Highly anticipated movies "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" are being released on the same day and come shortly ahead of "Moana 2," setting up what could be a record-breaking Thanksgiving weekend for the movie theater industry.
What Happened: "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" open in domestic movie theaters on Nov. 22, in a move that some compared to the release of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" on the same day last year.
While "Glicked" or whatever acronym you want to use for seeing both movies the same day didn't catch on as big as last year's "Barbenheimer" did previously, expectations remain high for both movies.
"Wicked," which comes from Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA) unit Universal Pictures, is expected to post a domestic opening weekend total in the range of $125 million to $150 million, as reported by Deadline.
"Gladiator II," which comes from Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA)(NASDAQ:PARAA), is expected to have a domestic opening weekend of more than $60 million.
Deadline reports strong initial audience scores for "Wicked" from those who saw early screenings of the film and pre-sales that are "through the roof."
As an R-rated movie, a total of $60 million or more could help "Gladiator II" become the highest-grossing R-rated film in November.
Why It's Important: The strong expected opens for "Wicked" and "Gladiator II" could be good news for AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE:AMC) and Cinemark Holdings (NYSE:CNK) and other movie theater operators in the U.S.
Along with those two movies, movie theaters could also benefit from the release of "Moana 2" from Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS), which comes next Wednesday, ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
The three movies could help the domestic box office pass $300 million and hit all-time records for the holiday five-day weekend, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
With three strong movies all released shortly before Thanksgiving, estimates predict a strong domestic box office next week, which could be another bright spot in the post-COVID-19 recovery for movie theaters and movie companies.
A total of over $300 million, with most coming from the three films, could come close to the record. Here's a look at the current top-grossing five-day domestic Thanksgiving weekends and the highest-grossing film during the time period:
The report said current tracking predicts "Moana 2" will gross between $125 million and $150 million for the five-day holiday weekend domestically, which would break records for the time period.
The early Wednesday opening could contribute to the strong expectations for "Moana 2" as not all blockbusters haven't done this same holiday release window previously, the report added.
While the strong opening expectations for the three films could help the movie companies behind them, the big winners will likely be the movie theaters as they could see many customers coming in more than once during a period that might have only drawn one visit in past years due to this year's strong lineup.
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Photo: Movie posters via IMDb
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